Episode #74 : Planet of the Spiders

"The old man must die, and the new man will discover to his

inexpressible joy that he has never existed."

Episode 74:   Planet of the Spiders.
Companions: 3rd Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith.
Air Date:       Six episodes. 4th May to 8th June 1974.

The blue crystal that the Doctor took from Metebelis III in a previous adventure is desperately sought by the Eight Legs, a race of mutated spiders, as the final element in their plan for universal domination. With help from an old mentor, the Doctor realises the only way to foil the plot is to make the ultimate sacrifice. The Doctor must risk death to return to the cave of the Great One and save the universe.

Planet of the Spiders is the final story in the Jon Pertwee era and while it has it's good and bad elements, it is a pretty good ending to one of the best Doctors (in my opinion) of the classic show. The story deals with a race of giant mutant spiders from Metebelis III who seek power to travel to Earth and enslave mankind. They need the crystal that the Doctor took from the planet a long time before their arrival to do so, and must use mantric time travel to achieve their aims.

Firstly, while the story is quite good, I am left with the feeling that the writer probably didn't watch the previous story where the Doctor picked the crystal up from Metebelis III. I say this because the planet as it appears in Planet of the Spiders in no way resembles the planet as it appeared in The Green Death. It now appears bright, earth-like and devoid of the giant monsters that the Doctor encountered before. Secondly, the one element that really lets the story down is the appearance of the giant spiders. I am sure that the BBC special effects department could have done a lot better even back then.

There is a lot of padding to this story and part of it comes from a lengthy James Bond-esqe chase involving cars, gyrocopters, speedboats and a hovercraft. Most of that episode was taken up with the chase and it all ends with a bit of a let down. Jon Pertwee may have liked his stunts and cars but it didn't need to find it's way into the story.

The story also sees the return of Mike Yates, who was discharged from UNIT following the events of Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Having retreated to meditation centre to contemplate what he had done, he becomes embroiled in the plot unfolding, and brings Sarah Jane and the Doctor into the story. Having really come to like the character over the last twenty-odd stories it was nice to give him a final send off.

At the end of the story after defeating the giant spiders, he regenerates into Tom Baker. Going through these stories in order I really do feel that I am going to miss Pertwee. His mannerisms and acting approach really have made him stand out far more than the two actors before him, and he has made his run the most enjoyable.

Episode #71 : Invasion of the Dinosaurs

"Look, I understand your ideals. In many ways I sympathise with them. But this is not the way to go about it, you know. You've got no right to take away the existence of generations of people."

Episode 71:     Invasion of the Dinosaurs.
Companions:   3rd Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith.
Air Date:         Six episodes. 12th January to 16th February 1974.

The Third Doctor and Sarah arrive in 1970s London to find it has been evacuated because dinosaurs have appeared mysteriously. It turns out the dinosaurs are being brought to London via a time machine to further a plan to revert London to a pre-technological level.

Invasion starts with some wonderfully creepy scenes of a deserted London. It seems that our time travellers took a few months to get back from medieval England, and now dinosaurs have started to appear. All of it part of a plot to do away with the the modern world and return to a more primitive Earth, one without technology and pollution. If the entire population of mankind has to never have existed, well, the reward is worth it. Or is it?

We have here a really nicely thought out premise that involves time travel, dinosaurs (about time!) and some wonderful pseudo-science. Shame that the dinosaur models are just down right atrocious, as you can see from the picture above. If the models had been even half way decent this would have been just fantastic.

An odd addition is the surprise that Mike Yates, long time member of UNIT, has become disillusioned and is now a traitor. Maybe it is just me but it seems a bit far fetched considering everything he has seen and done in recent years. Another addition is the introduction to the Whomobile, the Doctor's new UFO looking car. This was a personal vehicle of Jon Pertwee, commissioned by him. Why it was used in the show rather than Bessie, I don't know.

I also feel that there is a lack of continuity in this tale. When using their time scoop technology to pluck dinosaurs out of the past, why do they not see Silurians? After all, they ruled the Earth back then and presumably had great cities. Doesn't help the story I suppose but some reference would have been nice.

In this story we get more of an impression that there is more to a Time Lord than just time travel. Similarly to events in The Time Monster, the Doctor seems able to see/sense time distortions and even be less effected by them.

If you can look past the awful dinosaurs, then this is a really good story.